Eric Schwartzman

I am a senior communications professional with broad experience in online communications, public relations, public affairs and marketing for leading brands, start-ups, non-profits and government agencies.

I help organization develop and execute digital communications strategies and have extensive experience integrating emerging information technologies into organizational communications. It has been my honor to chair and speak at numerous professional conferences. I teach the top-rated new media and social media communications workshop monthly for the Public Relations Society of America, and consider myself to be innovative, resourceful and driven.

In 2000, I resigned from the Interpublic Group [NYSE:IPG] PR firm Rogers & Cowan, where I served as director of promotions managing a staff of nine, and went out on my own to specialize in online communications. Since then, I have developed online communications strategies, training programs and campaigns for Boeing, Brigham Young University, City National Bank, Environmental Defense Fund, Johnson & Johnson and many others.

I've been contracted by the US Marines Corps, US Department of State, the Government of Singapore, UCLA Extension and others to teach social media and new media communications to their employees and provide search engine optimization, blogger relations, podcasting, online writing and online video training to public relations agencies, nonprofit associations and companies.

Building on my experience managing pressroom activities at The Grammy Awards, and working in pressrooms at the MTV Music Video Awards, MTV Movie Awards, FOX Teen Awards, the People's Choice Awards and other special events, I built the first online newsrooms for Cirque du Soleil and the Salt Lake Olympics to efficiently distribute press materials and high resolution photographs online.

This led to the development and creation of online newsroom software as a service provider iPressroom, which I founded, and which today hosts online newsrooms for Target, Toyota, UCLA and others on a proprietary content management system designed specially to help nontechnical personnel practice online communications autonomously from IT professionals or webmasters. I remain the company's chairman, participating at the board level, and advising on matters of corporate finance and business strategy.

I have applied knowledge in the areas of search engine optimization, keyword discovery, keyword validation, latent semantic indexing and content marketing, and have increased page rankings for AARP, Associated Production Music, LA Opera, Trend Micro and others by drafting, editing and hyper linking relevant keywords and phrases in press materials, executive biographies, website copy, blog posts, podcast show notes, photo captions, congressional testimonies and other external communications to landing pages designed to convert inbound visits into ecommerce, informational or social transactions.

In addition to my online communications achievements, since Leaving Rogers & Cowan, I led a 30-person team responsible for all aspects of media relations at Star Wars Celebration IV, which attracted more than 400 reporters and 35,000 attendees to the Los Angeles Convention Center, generating 1,422 articles and 1,763 television segments over the five day event. I was also the senior media relations executive responsible for the Cirque du Soleil’s appearance at the 74th Annual Academy Awards®, the Salt Lake Olympics Opening and Closing Ceremonies, the launch of the Pussycat Dolls and worked as a media relations specialist on the Britney Spears Onyx Hotel World Tour.

In 2005 I started the weekly, half-hour business podcast "On the Record...Online" about how new media is changing the way organizations communicate and how people consume media and information, which has featured exclusive interviews with Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal, David Pogue of The New York Times, Ken Auletta of the New Yorker and many others.

On the Record.Online has received numerous awards including the Public Relations Society of America Bronze Anvil Award in 2007, the Marketing Sherpa Email Marketing Award in 2007, the MarCom Gold Award in 2007, the PR News Platinum Award in 2007, the Public Relations Society of America Los Angeles Chapter Prism Award 2007 and the Society for New Communications Research Award of Excellence in 2006.

Prior to joining Rogers & Cowan in 1997, I was a corporate officer at Denver-based amusement start-up Laser Storm, which the executive I was part of took public on the NASDAQ in 1996 raising $5.2 million. As vice president of marketing and product development, I managed a staff of 12 and was responsible for product development, marketing, investor relations during the company’s quiet period and supervision of advertising and public relations agencies. I also negotiated licensing agreements securing rights to manufacture amusements based on Marvel Entertainment Group’s X-MEN and MGM’s Stargate copyrights.

Before that, I was the creative director and then vice president of client services for Los Angeles-based special effects company Wildfire, where I managed a full time staff of three and freelance crews as large as 25 on major entertainment projects at Disneyland, Universal Studios, Caesar’s Forum Shops, all the major motion picture studios and broadcast networks. At Wildfire, I was accountable for project staffing, profitability and new business development.

I began my career as a writer intern on the CBS sitcom, "Doctor, Doctor" starring Matt Frewer and next as a advertising copy writer at Red Car Production. I was also a contributing editor at UK-based Leisure Management Magazine, where I covered technology and entertainment trends.

After graduating from a leading agricultural high school in Israel in 1984 as class valedictorian, I did one semester at Tel Aviv University, where I took a course in propaganda studies, followed by a summer program at New York University, before continuing on to San Francisco State University's School of Creative Arts, where I was among the 20 of nearly 500 to be accepted to the Cinema Program, arguably the nation's leading experimental film production program, which fuses conventional cinema studies with semiotics. I graduated from SFSU Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1990.

Professional and Academic Speaking Credentials

 

---

Pt. 1, Pt. 2 & Pt.3]

---

Meet the Media: Newswire Journalists
December 3, 2008

PR Panel for the Government of Israel

Israel Hasbara Media Workshop, New York City
December 16, 2005

---

On-Demand Advertising and Marketing: The Impact of Digital Delivery on Entertainment, Media and Brands

Entertainment Marketing Conference, Los Angeles
November 7-8, 2005

---

Revolution in PR Technology: How Blogs, Wikis and Podcasts are Transforming Corporate Communications

PR University - Bulldog Reporter, San Francisco
September 16, 2005

 

---

An Executive's Guide to Blogging Your Way to the Top

Software Council of Southern California, Los Angeles

September 15, 2005

---

Revolution in PR Technology: How Blogs, Wikis and Podcasts are Transforming Corporate Communications

PR University - Bulldog Reporter, New York City

September 9, 2005

 

---

Blogs, RSS and Public Relations

Public Relations Society of America - Los Angeles Chapter

July 28, 2005

---

The Art of Powerful Messaging

Media Relations 2005 - Bulldog Reporter, San Francisco
April 10-12, 2005

---

News Mentions

1. Schwartzman has also been quoted in industry trade publications including PR Week, Ad Age, Media Relations Report [PDF], Media Relations Insider [PDF] and PR News [PDF].
   

---

Click here to Return to the top of the page